Trawulwuy artist Nathan Maynard’s installation intends to educate on Tasmania’s violent past – but will the lesson be lost
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n the dimly-lit basement of a former furniture store in Hobart CBD, 480 embalmed sheep’s heads in specimen jars are arranged on industrial shelving units: 24 racks, each four shelves high and with five jars per shelf, in a neat grid. The fastidiousness of the presentation sits at odds with the inherent violence of the material; so do the expressions on most of the sheep’s faces, which range from serene to uncanny smiles.
As if to dispel any false sense of quietude, the room’s lighting periodically switches to nightmarish red.
